Wednesday 21st May
Read Revelation 5:6-10
“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.’” (NIVUK)
If we were in doubt that our prayers are like sweet incense rising heavenward then John’s vision of the way things really are, despite the chaos surrounding us, dispels those doubts. John appreciates that his vision may sometimes be confusing and occasionally slips in an explanatory gloss. In this passage, amidst all the other images we would love to have explained (!), John drops in an aside. The golden bowls of the worshippers of the Lamb, filled with incense, contain the prayers of God’s people.
The worship and prayers of God’s people rise to the throne room of God. They revolve around the mystery of the cross and how that sacrifice creates a people who honour and worship God with their whole being. It should come as little surprise then that when we pray the Lord’s prayer we find within it echoes of this scene. The Father in heaven, hallowed as is right, surrounded by the prayers of His people for His kingdom to come on earth as in heaven, grounded in the forgiveness that flows from the cross of Jesus.
